Waiting
by watchitstark
Summary: Maybe all they needed was an odd circumstance and some private time. HG/MM femslash.


"Minerva have you seen Hermione lately?" a confused looking Harry Potter questioned, his head blazing in her fireplace.

"Oh no, I haven't. Not for quite a while actually," she frowned.

"No one's seen her in about a week, I think. And she's not answering the phone or even making it clear that she's home when we tried to get in to her flat earlier today."

"Why did you think I'd know?" she questioned, concerned.

"Because none of us have any idea what's going on, and I just thought she might have told you."

"Why me? I haven't actually seen her for several months."

"Well, you know, she trusts you?" he said awkwardly.

"Mr Potter," she said in her best teacher voice. "You know I haven't seen her for months."

"I know, but I thought maybe you two had got your act together and were hidden away somewhere ignoring the world, so I asked you partially to see if you were here."

"Are you saying our relationship is inappropriate?" Minerva questioned sharply, glaring into her fireplace.

"No I'm saying you want it to be," he sighed. "That's not the point, anyway. Someone needs to get into her flat, and you're one of the only people I could think of that she would have talked to about the wards, or that will be able to disarm them."

"That's an invasion of her privacy, are you sure that she's in trouble?"

"Of course, otherwise I wouldn't have contacted you."

"Fine, I'll Apparate there now. Are you going to join me?"

"I can't, I just got an anonymous tip about some Death Eaters."

"Good luck," she muttered, knowing it was probably fake.

"Hmm, you too. If she is there, tell her I'm worried about her, will you? Even if she is fine, shutting herself up in her flat for week's on end isn't healthy."

"Of course," she smiled, and he disappeared from her fireplace, leaving her to go investigate what on earth could be wrong with the young woman.

She sighed and raised her wand, unlocking the door to the apartment building with a simple Alohamora, then unarmed the alarm spell before it could go off. Harry had been right; Hermione had talked over what defences she should put on her apartment with the older woman, something she was infinitely glad about now as she attempted to break in. She swept up the stairs to the brunette's door, where she knocked loudly and was ignored through several minutes of knocking and asking Hermione to let her in. She raised her wand and began disarming the complex mix of protective spells around the door, hoping that could notice them all and get inside without losing a limb or something.

The Headmistress cautiously opened the door, proceeding into the dark flat, heading straight to open the curtains when she didn't see any immediate danger. She turned, looking around at the general disarray that was her ex-student's front room. There was bottles all over the coffee table, and a large heap of papers next to them, spilling on to the floor. She carefully stepped over them on her way to the next room, poking her head into the kitchen to notice a build-up in dirty plates, something that she knew to be unlike Hermione. She headed to the bedroom, where the door was ajar, and pushed it open, letting light spill in. She noticed that the person she was looking for was splayed out on the bed, a bare leg poking out of the duvet, laying face down in such a way that it made it look like she was suffocating herself with the pillow. She sighed and went over to the curtains, yanking them open noisily, hoping it would wake the younger woman up.

Hermione groaned and rolled over to see who had intruded, covering her eyes with a hand. "What?" she questioned, voice thick with sleep.

"No one's seen you for over a week," the Headmistress said without preamble.

"No, that can't be right, I'm seeing Harry later today?" she rubbed her face and looked at her former teacher in confusion.

"That was yesterday."

The brunette sat up, gazing around her room, her bewilderment clear on her face. "Oh God I was just working on my Charms thesis, I made a breakthrough and it's just been snowballing and I've been making amazing progress, and then I finished it so I celebrated last night..." she groaned and held her head. "Well that explains the headache at least."

While Hermione was talking Minerva had noticed that her former student was wearing a rather ratty white tank top, clearly displaying more of her ex-student's skin than she had ever seen, a toned leg still sticking out of the covers. "That must be what the bottles in the living room are," she said with a small smile.

"Oh yeah, I'm not sure how much I had to drink actually," she groaned. "Why did you end up coming to see me?"

"Harry wanted to know if you were okay because no one's seen you, and he said that I was one of the only people he could think of that could get past your wards."

"Head Auror and he couldn't get past my wards?" the brunette joked.

Minerva frowned. "Actually you're right, they weren't even particularly complex, I was expecting more."

"Well it's peace time or something." The younger woman shrugged and then yawned, stretching her arms above her head, causing her tank top to ride up, a moment which Minerva chose to use to realise how inappropriate this was. She coughed. "I should go. Please contact Harry and inform him that you are well," she started to leave but the brunette followed, quickly grabbing her arm.

"No, wait I have something to do with my Transfiguration work I'd really like a second opinion on?" she seemed to suddenly realise who's arm she was holding and quickly removed her hand.

"What's it on?" she asked, interested despite herself. "I suppose I could spare a few minutes."

Hermione grinned. "Excellent, I'm pretty sure that the papers are strewn across my coffee table mixed in with my charms work just to make things more interesting."

The older woman awkwardly coughed again as she walked past her, already picking things up off the floor. "Maybe you should get dressed first?" She pointedly looked at the Hulk boxer briefs that her ex-student was wearing.

"Oh my god I'm sorry," she blushed. "I'll go get dressed, I guess in my inebriated state last night I didn't manage to put my pyjamas on."

"I'll wait in here," Minerva managed, looking distinctly awkward and trying to look anywhere but at Hermione.

Almost as though she... was attracted to her, Hermione suddenly thought. The teacher wasn't acting like it made her uncomfortable because it was inappropriate, she was acting like it made her uncomfortable because she wanted to make it even more inappropriate.

"I think I'm going to shower, actually, if you wouldn't mind waiting."

"No, no, that's fine," she murmured distractedly.

She looked at the older witch for a moment, as though considering something. "Why did you come? Last time I sent you an owl you ignored me."

"I was just busy, I meant to reply," she tried to wave it off.

"I was worried you were upset with me," she moved forwards, back into Minerva's space. "I sent you another owl, and I know you got that one because Neville remembered seeing my owl at breakfast."

"I didn't realise, I just let time get away from me," she continued to not look at the younger woman, evading eye contact and subconsciously taking a small, almost imperceptible step back.

"What happened, Minerva? It's almost like you've been avoiding me."

"I've just been taking some time to adjust, as we never paused in the transition from teacher and student to equals."

"We became friends in sixth year, almost as soon as I became of age, actually. There's nothing stopping you from revealing what you really want," she tried, aware of the fact that she was risking their friendship.

The older witch's head snapped up, finally making eye contact. "What are you – I don't - " she tried, and was cut off.

"Minerva, I'm much better at recognising social cues these days, and so far my knowledge of body language is suggesting something to me. Also I'm pretty sure that that was the first time you've stuttered in about twenty years," she smirked, looking up at the older woman with wide, innocent brown eyes.

"I don't know what you're trying to get me to say?" she said, valiantly trying to avoid admitting anything.

"The way you see me has changed. That's fair enough, considering the fact that I'm not longer a child or your student, in fact I'd probably be vaguely offended if you still viewed me in the same way you had when I was eleven," she laughed. "So, grab hold of some of that Gryffindor courage, and you never know what could happen."

"I'm baffled by this turn of conversation I have no idea what you're talking about," she once again turned to go, and Hermione once again grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Some Gryffindor you are," she snorted, pulling her back closer, not relinquishing her hold.

Minerva glared at her. "Now you offend me, what is it you want?" she questioned sharply.

"More like what is it _you_ want, but I guess I have to do all of the work around here," she laughed and pulled her old teacher even closer, slowly running her hand up her arm to her neck, pulling her in slowly enough that she could pull away if she wanted to.

The taller woman couldn't help but follow her lead, obviously eager for it. Their lips met and it was quiet for a long moment, until Minerva pulled Hermione in, wrapping her arms around her and moaning into her mouth. Eventually they pulled apart and stared at one another.

"How long have you know?" the teacher asked.

"I think you first gave yourself away during the battle at Hogwarts, but I didn't realise properly until halfway through my NEWT year."

"And you didn't say anything because...?"

"Well I assumed you needed time to come to terms with it," she grinned. "And then I decided I'd waited long enough."

The older woman laughed, and bent down for another kiss.


End file.
